Mull Historical Society (Colin MacIntyre) will celebrate his birthday this year, on 8 April 2016, by releasing his seventh album Dear Satellite through Xtra Mile Recordings. You can preorder the album on CD and download from XMR's online shop, and from Amazon, and download only on iTunes.

The album was produced by Grammy award-winning Dom Morley, known for his work on Amy Winehouse's Back To Black, as well as working with Adele, Grinderman and Sting. He also produced Colin's first album on Xtra Mile Recordings, City Awakenings, released in 2012.

Listen to the first taste of the album, ‘The Ballad Of Ivor Punch’, which is the first instant grat track for all preorders:

The song’s central character is also the protagonist of Colin’s debut novel, The Letters of Ivor Punch, published in hardback last year. It won the Edinburgh International Book Festival's First Book award and will be released in paperback edition the day before his birthday (and the release of Dear Satellite).

The album is ten tracks of floating, positive, textually-diverse pop songs. The spring morning brightness spread across 'Sleepy Hollow' and 'This Little Sister' may leap you into optimistic, slightly cheerful abandon but 'Why Do They Go So Soon' wrings a little melancholy into the warmth. The odd off-key whistling underpinning the rhyming acoustic pop of 'Bones' meshes the weird elements you'd have expected from MHS of old, while the chiming synth-drive of 'The Ballad of Ivor Punch' reaches into Arcade Fire-esque indie rock. 'All the Love Remains' and 'Each Other' captures the sweet and serious strumming that MHS has made his own, while the album closes with the reflective, sky-and-soul-searching 'Farewell to Finisterre', continuing the seeming interest of Xtra Mile Recordings' bands in space and star gazing.

Colin says: “I couldn’t be happier with the album. It is ten songs, 36 minutes, and it feels like a perfect distillation of what I can do, and my best work. I’ve really pushed myself as a songwriter and tried to challenge myself to evolve sonically and capture a unique atmosphere within the album. There is a lot of space in it, lushness, but also it feels punchy and melodically pop. It is about home, getting home, leaving home, finding home, whatever planet or street or field you live on. Whatever home means to you. I think having a new music publishing deal with BMG/Xtra Mile Music has also made me reach for higher. I’m so excited to see it enter the world. It looks bloody good too!”

Tracklisting:

01 Build Another Brick02 Sleepy Hollow03 This Little Sister04 Why Do They Go So Soon05 Bones06 The Ballad of Ivor Punch07 All the Love Remains08 Each Other09 Try To Be You10 Farewell to Finisterre

Photo by Dan Massie

This news follows a mammoth 2015 for Colin which saw him celebrate 15 years since the release of his first single 'Barcode Bypass', as well as releasing his first 'Best of' collection on double vinyl for Record Store Day which was celebrated with a sold-out tour performing his gold-selling MHS debut album Loss. With a tour in the spring supporting the album release still to be announced, 2016 is shaping up to be another exciting year in Mull Historical Society’s extraordinary career.